Load redistribution following local damage often drives the cascading failure of connected
elements in complex systems [1]}, [2]}.
From crackling bursts accompanying materials breakdown,
through the failure avalanches of transportation and communication networks, to the cascading
blackouts of electric transmission grids, the statistical features
of failure cascades, and the overall performance of the damaged
system strongly depend on the structure of the underlying network of load transmitting connections
between elements of the system [3]}, [4]}, [5]}, [6]}, [7]}, [8]}, [9]}, [10]}.
The interplay of the cascading dynamics and of the network topology has recently been studied
using discrete models on various types of complex networks. In these approaches
either the nodes [5]}, [8]} or the links
[13]} of the network are assumed to undergo
a degradation process accompanied by a mechanism of load rearrangement on the intact elements
which can give rise to cascades of failure events. Among these approaches the so-called
fiber bundle model (FBM), widely used to study materials breakdown phenomena [14]}, [15]}, [16]}, has proven very useful
since it grasps the essential mechanisms of the intermittent failure spreading
yet being simple enough to offer
analytic solutions in certain limiting cases [17]}, [18]}, [14]}.
